Tuberculosis and the right to health

TB has surpassed HIV as the top infectious disease killer in the world and the global threat from multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) continues to grow, yet approaches to fighting the disease remain primarily biomedical and public health oriented. These traditional approaches dominate global and national TB programs and research, and they largely ignore the underlying social, economic, and structural factors driving the TB epidemic and drug resistance.

The papers and perspectives in this Special Section of the Health and Human Rights Journal illustrate the breadth of issues related to TB and the right to health, and human rights more generally. From the lack of research and development for new health technologies necassary to better diagnose and treat TB, to the imprisonment of people with TB who stop their treatment, to the development of human rights-based approaches to the disease, and the accountability of the World Health Organization for global MDR-TB policies, this Special Section highlights diverse issues facing the global community in its fight against TB.

The global community can no longer afford to combat TB exclusively through biomedical and public health-based approaches—not when millions continue to suffer and die each year from an age-old illness that is both preventable and treatable. Articulating and realizing the rights of people with TB, and the corresponding obligations of governments and other key actors, is a necessary and essential part of ongoing efforts to eliminate the disease and to treat those who suffer from it now.

The Special Section is open access and can be viewed here.